Sidney Zion, columnist and activist, dies

NEW YORK (JTA) — Sidney Zion, a newspaper columnist and activist, has died.

Zion, a writer for some of the country’s top publications, died Sunday of bladder cancer in Brooklyn, The New York Times reported. He was 75.

Following the untimely death of his teenage daughter in 1984, Zion campaigned for reforms in the training of doctors that ultimately were adopted as state law five years later. He drew national attention to the workloads and supervision of medical interns in teaching hospitals.

Zion, a former attorney and federal prosecutor, was a reliable defender of Israel in his columns in the New York Post, the Daily News and others.